UNFPA says sexual, reproductive health services to Rohingyas not adequate

The chief of health of the UNFPA Bangladesh has said that the sexual and reproductive health services are not adequate to the Rohingya community living in Cox’s Bazar, seeking more international support.

Dr Sathya Doraiswamy thanked the Bangladesh government for giving shelter to over a million Rohingyas who fled ethnic cleansing from the neighbouring Rakhine state of Myanmar.

He said the immediate need of food, water and sanitation had been addressed which he termed as the ‘hard-ware sector’. But the ‘soft-ware sector’ like the sexual and reproductive health services is “very sensitive” and difficult to provide.

“It’s not adequate,” he said, replying to a question at a discussion on “Not Optional! Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Essential to Humanitarian Action” on the sidelines of the Women Deliver Conference 2019 in Vancouver on Tuesday.

The focus of the largest conference on gender equality is on ‘power’ as a driving force behind progress and change of the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women across the globe.

The discussion topics of the four-day conference began on Monday range from the power of data collection and technology to economic growth to gender-based violence.

The Family Planning 2020, Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises, NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security, UNFPA, and Women Deliver jointly organised the side-event on sexual and reproductive health issues to discuss the minimum standards during an emergency.

Doraiswamy called upon the international community to provide more funding for sexual and reproductive health services looking at the protracted situation of the Rohingya crisis.

Over a million of Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh’s since August 2017. Ove 50 percent of them are women and girls.

Those of reproductive age were in dire need of emergency and longer-term sexual and reproductive health and rights services.

Many have additional needs related to sexual violence such as rape they experienced in Myanmar.

The UN population agency, UNFPA, mobilised its resources to provide those services with the support of the government.

It continues to rapidly mobilise and expand sexual reproductive health and rights services through both static and mobile facilities.

Services include emergency obstetric and newborn care, antenatal care, postnatal care, family planning, clinical management of rape, menstrual regulation and post abortion care.

Doraiswamy shared the UNFPA experiences in dealing those needs to Rohingyas who had almost no access to health and family planning services in their home – Rakhine State.

On minimum standards, he said, the global guidance with “local intelligence” is very important.

He said the first priority was to make available to the refugees the services what is available in the country.

“There had been lot of confusion about what is permissible in national law such as menstrual regulations and abortion. You need to have leadership to clarify those things,” Doraiswamy said on Rohingya dealing experience.

Another problem they faced, he said, was that the Rohingya did not have any official data on health seeking behaviour.

“We have got high level of sexual violence. Rohingyas are the population who know nothing about family planning,” he said, adding that global guidance help but more importantly local intelligent is needed to address such crisis.